This morning on ESPN New York , Rich Cimini noted that Aaron Maybin, he who Many Good Things were expected of this season, only saw two defensive snaps in the game against the Niners last weekend.

What gives?

We really like Maybin, but one of the biggest concerns with his game last year for the Jets was that he was great when given a narrow role; get the passer. We noted after Sunday’s game that Maybin has only one tackle so far this season … and knew his stat line was indicative of much larger concerns for this team.

With the way the Jets use him, Maybin’s snaps are, borrowing an economic term, a lagging indicator of what’s going on with the unit. Now we’re starting to see that once things start to get unbalanced elsewhere – how badly they go off course for everything.

With the Jets needing more of a shot in the arm in terms of rushing the passer this past offseason, we wrote at length about how the Jets needed to find a way to get Aaron Maybin more snaps.

Doing so was contingent on two things:

The assumption that the Jets were going to stay stout against the run.

The coaching staff working with Maybin becoming a better player against the run

The first point has been ripped to pieces so far this year. Mo had a great game against the run and Coples had some good moments last weekend and doubtless is still learning. While the personnel isn’t much different than it was a year ago, the team can’t seem to stop the run as a unit.

Since the beat seems overly concerned with “The Tebow Of It All”, what’s gotten no attention is just how much pain with which Sione Po’uha might or might not be playing. Bent mentioned it in his BGA post yesterday:

For the second straight game, Sione Po’uha had a rough afternoon. […] You have to wonder how much of this is attributable to his back injury and when will matters improve, if ever?

Without the ability to stop the run then there’s never the right situation to let Maybin pin his ears back and get after the passer. Which leads us to the second point … has Maybin made no progress against the run in the last year? Leading up to the Niners game the coaches talked about gap control, shedding blocks and making good tackles. Even with the emphasis on that this past week, it didn’t happen. The Niners were a far superior team, but as Rex Ryan noted yesterday on The Michael Kay Show, the team missed seventeen tackles during the game, Ryan cited that as the most since he’s come to the Jets. Either the Jets don’t want to tackle the ballcarrier or they are incapable of it … neither is good.

So what’s the concern about Maybin? That he will get blown off the point of attack because of his size? That he will miss tackles?

Umm … excuse my smartassery, but how can that be any worse than what we’re already seeing?

If anything he’ll do it with far better speed than the other linebackers seem capable of doing the same thing.

The coaches might not feel all that confident in his abilities if he’s seeing such little time on the field … but at this point … what’s the difference?

Rolling whoever else out there in his place doesn’t seem to be working, so how can putting a human missile like Maybin into the situation be any worse than what we’ve already seen? The Jets gameplan is a scarred battlefield … what’s one more crater?

@starksoakmase Not possible unless they take Calderon back. If they take him back, that frees up 6 mil for them which might be enough to get them West who they are desperate for....If they took Jose, I'd do it in a second.

@nyoak34@starksoakmase Let's say Lopez's deal starts at 11 mil the first year. that leaves us like 8 mil in space. add the trade exception. that's not doable? Obviously if they took Jose, would be great....

@starksoakmase@nyoak34 Can't combine the trade exception with a player to trade for one player. Jose would be the only way and I don't see them doing that. They already have sessions on the cheap as their backup and Jose's value is obviously VERY low. Only way it happens is if they can't move Nene any other way and that extra $ puts them over the top for West.

@starksoakmase@The L Train@avzensport i misread your comment to mean you would want Nene instead of Lopez. but even still. a lot of $ for a player about to turn 33. From what's being told is that Phil intends to play Melo at the 4 (his best position) which is why Aldridge decided against meeting with us. So it would mean he would be a bench player at 13 mil unless you plan on starting him at the 5.

@starksoakmase@avzensport Lopez is the better younger player at this point in both of their careers.. Nene is on the wrong side of 30 and stands to get older. Lopez still has room to improve his stats. Nene's production is likely to keep decreasing. Lopez PER is higher. and he's a better rebounder. why would you NOT want the bonafide center just for a solid PF. for that money i would rather have given it to Paul Millsap. at this point the knicks have 0 Centers under contract.

Reese also stresses that his drafting philosophy for the most part is draft the BPA... Well in this draft if his selections were based off that theory; Reese needs to re-educate himself on how to better rate the prospects.. not one player drafted by Reese in the 1st three rounds was the BPA...

@Michael Stewart What ratings are you going by? The general consensus? Draftniks who never made a pick for an NFL team? This is all very subjective.

The Giants are using a rubric that takes into account character as well as talent. A kid like Bromley interviews for them and blows them away. They look deeper into his film reels and they decide he's Giant material. Same with the others.

I would have been happy with Donald or Martin in Round One but I can see why they took Beckham. He's a confident kid that can come right in and help the Giant offense get back on its feet.

Jernigan tested positive for pot at the combine. After the Will Hill debacle, no way the Giants take him. My friends in the Alabama media pool told me there are concerns with Kouandjio's knee. Tuitt is going to be a good one, but the Giants liked Bromley better. I like Moses too

@SNYGiants @Michael Stewart Although you made a valid point with Jerrigan, you also proved my point with Donald, Tuitt, Martin and Moses.. all of them were rated higher than the player selected in that round.. I am not suggesting that Beckham is a bad pick, my argument is that it wasn't the best pick when you consider all the factors...

What was Reese's philosophy in this draft, BPA or need??????BPA is debatable as Donald and Martin were rated higher than Beckham in many websites and not just one....The same can be said with Richburg and Bromley, they are not bad selections, just not the best for what was available...are you telling me that based on the prospects interviews that could have been the deciding factor towards their selections....Donald and Z. Martin had no red flags, Tuitt and M. Martin, Sutton, Nix and Moses didn't have red flags....Bromley should run for congress based on your statement as he went nearly 2 rounds ahead of where he was projected by many drafts and experts suggested...Now you can say that the Giants and Reese have their own way of rating these prospects....Well based on the last 3 drafts by Reese, perhaps he needs to change this because its not working....Again, this was not his worse or best draft, but it could have been a very special draft if Reese would have been more creative and thought outside the box for once...He operated the draft like someone afraid for his job....

Yeah especially the dearth of talent at QB. That slob of a starter still throws off the wrong foot, makes poor reads and feel short last year when he was supposed to be at his best. Thank you NY Giants for 2 SB's and no thank you for keeping this over paid bum on the roster.

you also have to thank that overpaid "bum" for singlehandedly dragging us to the super bowl in 2011/12... getting absolutely mauled in the playoff game against san fran and hung tough.. being 2 time super bowl mvp.. yeah hes horrific, um who do you want to be the quarterback again? unless this was all sarcasm, I don't see all the hate for the guy.. has he been awful? yes but he has been very good also

David Wilson is done, as far as I'm concerned. To have value as a 3rd down back, he'd have to pass protect, which is not something he's shown any talent for so far. TE is something of a crap shoot with nobody having any idea what sort of talent they have at the position. Otherwise, though, I'm not too worried about the offense. Eli will benefit from a new offensive scheme, and the running game, receivers, and the O-line all look improved (with good depth, which is extremely important).

I'm more worried about the defense. They addressed the secondary in free agency, which is great, but the front 7 are looking weak and shallow to me. We need either JPP or Moore (or both) to step up the pass rush, and we need the DTs to be effective run-stoppers.

@lweight "and we need the DTs to be effective run-stoppers. " Your quote is on the money...So why in the world did Reese draft Bromley in the 3rd round when he was rated as the 19th best DT and 215 overall, and passed on Sutton(rated 9th best DT and 83 overall) and Nix (rated 2nd best among DT and 24th overall..Bromley was projected to be a 5th or 6th rounder... Reese could have traded back in the 1st 3 rounds for additional picks in a very deep draft. Reese once again did a poor job in the draft.

once again.. what team were we going to trade with and keep ODB? The only one that made sense was Chicago and they thought Donald would fall to them.. the Jets was taking Beckham at 18.. where would they trade back with and keep Beckham? 3rd round was a reach I agree.. Richburg was the best center in the draft.. once again where in the 2nd rd would they fall back to and keep Richburg?

@manchu.... Keeping Richburg shouldn't have been the objective. The Giants would have done just as well to trade back some spots collecting a draft pick or two, and if Richburg were not available, Marcus Martin from USC would have made an excellent alternative at Center. With an extra pick or two, and either of Richburg or Martin in tow, the Giants would have had additional ammo with which to pick up more depth or quality. In fact, they might have been able to draft another pass rusher, TE, or WR.

@Michael Stewart@lweight Trading back is too risky when you have a list of players that you want. The emphasis was character/talent not just talent. The Giants need guys that can come right in and master the landscape as well as the football part. They want players that can hit the ground running. Some of these other players that were rated higher have too many TLC issues. In the long run, they may end up better players. John Mara wants to compete in 2014.

@manchu @Michael Stewart @lweight Here is my point....If Reese traded back in rounds 1 and 2, he could of had 2 additional picks. In round 1, if trading back meant losing out on Beckham (so what). Beckham was not heads and shoulders better than the next tier of WR on the board. Reese could have traded back with a number of teams within 10 spots behind him. Same in round 2, Richburg was not the #1 rated center on the board (Marcus Martin was) and Richburg was rated overall at #68, while other players still on the board in round 2 were rated much higher and filled a need such as Kouandjio, Jerrigan, and Tuitt. There were ample opportunity for Reese to trade back and take advantage of a very deep draft. Round 3 was an absolutely example of Reese being clueless. taking Bromley who was rated #19 at DT and 215 overall over Sutton (rated 9th/83 overall) or Nix (rated 2nd/24 overall) speaks volume. Can you honestly tell me that adding 2 extra picks wouldn't have helped the Giants....

@SNYGiants@Michael Stewart@lweight Your explanation to my post doesn't hold any substance...Your opening sentence stating that "trading back is too risky when you have a list of players that you want"????Are you serious??????

Round 1: Beckham was not rated heads and shoulders above the next tier of WR's still on the board. If Reese trades back for an additional pick (5-10 spots back) he can still get a very gifted WR without character flaws and have an extra pick (3rd rd).

Round 2: Richburg was not the BPA at #43 when the Giants selected, In fact, in many prospects rankings, he wasn't even the best rated center in the draft (Marcus Martin). There was a handful of players still on the board that were rated much higher than Richburg and also filled the need for the Giants. Again, trading back and getting another pick (probably a 4th rder) would have helped the Giants immensely.

Round 3: Taking Bromley over Sutton or Nix was just plain stupidity.

Finally, your comment that the Giants want players that can hit the ground running also has no substance. Can you honestly tell me the players the Giants received will all make an immediate impact as rookies. Or can you honestly tell me that trading back for additional picks in a very deep draft would not have helped this teams overall personnel.

This character issue is an absolute line of --------. With the exception of a handful of players, Reese could and should have traded back and still would have drafted players with good character and no major issues. This years draft is not a horrible draft by Reese, it's just a lost opportunity to make it special.

@Michael Stewart.... That last sentence you said, in a nutshell, is exactly right... "a lost opportunity to make (the draft) special". Having the extra picks could have resulted in a couple of really good players who fell unexpectedly end up with the Giants instead of some other team.

"The offense moved slowly. From the inception of the play and the deliverance of it to the huddle, to the execution. OC Kevin Gilbride and his staff regularly took too long to call a play and get it into Eli, forcing him to hustle to get the team lined up and giving him less time to audible. As the season went on and the faces changed, it’s widely suspected that many of the players on the field did not know their assignments on many plays, hence the miscommunication in the passing game."

I don't know how many times (if ever) that you mentioned this in past blog posts, John, but it's good to see you admitting this. The only other person I can consistently remember hammering this particular point home time after time on this subject was Skookaloop. People may tend to think Skook is a bit over-the-top, but he has ALWAYS been spot-on correct about this point you illustrated today. Beside the obvious injury situations the Giants faced, this point more than others was the reason why the offense collapsed and failed more times than not. It was also the major contributor for the turnovers the Giants experienced. When left with precious little time to check out of play calls into something more appropriate for the situation, turnovers became the obvious end result of this lack of play clock urgency and confusion that was generated on the field.

With a new, faster up-tempo system in place now, we had better see less of this kind of incompetence and confusion on the field, and a higher efficiency and offensive ranking. The better the offense becomes, the better our defense will perform IF there is some decent clock management/time of possession involved. You don't necessarily have to have a "quick strike offense" to succeed. What is needed is one that simply moves the chains. This new offensive system should certainly be capable of that.

Great analysis. I think people forget how many injuries were had last year. I think that with the changes made in the offseason - there is no reason why the Giants can't win the division - or at least make the playoffs.

@Jeff Comerford The NFC east has become one of the weakest divisions in the NFC...Only the team that wins the division has made the playoffs over the last few years (no wild card). Philadelphia will be the team to beat and if the Giants expect to make the playoffs, they must go through Philly and win the division.

@drewc@Michael Stewart@Jeff Comerford what are you basing that assumption on? Nick Foles role will not be the same as a Peyton Manning or a Tom Brady. The Eagles are not expecting Foles to carry the team; they will rely on a solid defensive scheme and a run first mentality (McCoy).. Control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. As long as Foles can play anythere close to what he did last season, the Giants will have a tough time winning the division.. I'm a 40 year Giants fan and this is not easy to admit.

@Michael Stewart@drewc@Jeff Comerford He only threw 2 INT. The likelihood is that number will go up. Defenses tend to catch up with new schemes and I think Kelly's offense will not be as productive this year. I see the division as wide open not necessarily Philly's.

@drewc @Michael Stewart @Jeff Comerford Since Philly won the division last season, the Giants need to go through them this season. I agree with you that Foles will most likely have less of a productive season than last season. However; the Eagles do not base their offensive scheme around Foles, but rather around McCoy. I'm not suggesting that the Eagles will win 11 or more games. I am suggesting that in all likelihood, only one team from the NFC east will make the playoffs, so the Giants need to win the division if they want to make the playoffs.